The American miracle

About the Author

It was in 1983 when West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl spoke
those words to President Ronald ReaganThey were gathered at the
annual G7 economic summit attended by the heads of the leading
industrialized nations.

Two years earlier, Reagan had gone to his first G7 meeting in
Ottawa, where he outlined his economic recovery plan. The other
world leaders didn't appear to be very impressed. By 1983, though,
it was a different story. Reagan's plan was in full swing - and the
U.S. was defeating inflation and unemployment at a time when the
rest of the world was still in recession.

Gathered in historic Williamsburg, Va., those leaders had one
question: How did he do it? According to Reagan:

First, I gave them my thoughts about how excessive
tax rates take away the incentive to produce, and how lower tax
rates, in the end, generate more economic growth and also greater
revenue for government. Then I told them what we had done to lower
our tax rates, and some of the other things we were trying to do,
such as reducing the size of government, eliminating unnecessary
regulations and interference in the free market, and turning over
to private enterprise some of the functions government had taken
over.

He must have made quite an impression. Before long, Reagan was
reading about their own efforts to cut taxes and reduce regulations
back home. "The next time I'd see them," he wrote later, "they'd
say the policies were stimulating a turnaround like the one we had
had in the United States."

That's what the United States has been doing since its inception
- spreading the gospel of freedom across the globe. And as we
celebrate another birthday (our 232nd), it's worth taking a second
look at that "American miracle."

What's the common thread in what President Reagan told the other
leaders that day? Liberty. Yes, the very idea that sparked a
revolution in this nation - indeed, that created this
nation. After all, if you cut taxes, reduce regulations and shrink
the size of government, what are you doing? You're freeing
individuals to use their God-given talents and imaginations to
build a better life for themselves and their children. That's what
America has always been about.

You simply can't spark an "American miracle" if you put your
faith, first and foremost, in government. You have to believe in
the individual. You have to trust that free men and women will
innovate and strive in ways that aren't possible when big
government stands over them, watching and scolding like an
unwelcome nanny.

Liberals may profess concern for "the little guy," but their
policies clearly show they don't believe in him. This view puts
them at odds with our Founding Fathers - the ones who wrote the
very documents we celebrate tomorrow: the Declaration of
Independence and the Constitution. Taking a cue from Thomas Paine,
who declared government "a necessary evil," they fashioned a form
of self-government that carefully defined the powers of government
- which, it must always be understood, come from the "consent of
the governed."

As Thomas Jefferson said at his first inauguration in 1801:

A wise and frugal government … shall
restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise
free to regulation their own pursuits of industry and improvement,
and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned.
This is the sum of good government.

To truly appreciate what "good government" is, you have to go to
the source. That means actually reading the Declaration and the
Constitution. Most of us probably haven't even looked at these
seminal documents. If so, I urge you to get your own pocket-sized
copy of these cornerstones of American freedom. The Heritage
Foundation will send you one, free of charge, when you sign up at
our What Would Reagan Do?" website.

We can't expect liberty and self-government to survive in an
atmosphere of ignorance. To keep the "American miracle" alive,
Heritage is making these documents available in an easy-to-carry
form for you and everyone you know - your schools, your scout
troops, your churches and your family and friends.

How do we meet people's basic needs in America? The answer often
depends on where we stand.

Those who stand in Washington, D.C., typically see problems such
as poverty, homelessness and drug addiction in terms of statistics,
costs and caseloads. This view nurtures the mindset that these
problems can be solved only by government programs fueled by
ever-increasing spending.

But if you stand on South Division Avenue in Grand Rapids,
Mich., or on West Main Street in Leesburg, Fla., you perhaps see
things differently.

Instead of statistics, you might know a family who can't pay its
rent because of unexpected doctor bills. Instead of a case number,
you might know a pregnant teenager whose dad was never around. Your
close-up view of these problems helps you see what Washington
bureaucrats can't: That what these people need most are family,
friends and support networks that know them personally.

Therein lies the power of religious and community-based
organizations, which President Bush has rightly highlighted from
the earliest days of his campaign right up through today. The best
expressions of this reorientation toward the local, the flexible
and the personal have been through programs such as Access to
Recovery. ATR is a program that allows drug addicts to use vouchers
at the treatment facility of their choice, including religious
providers.

Similarly, grassroots nonprofits also play a valuable role in
helping the homeless.

"We cannot break dangerous patterns of behavior and cycles of
poverty unless we get personally involved," says Mary Kay Baker,
director of the Interfaith Hospitality Network in Grand Rapids. Her
organization works with 15 local churches to provide shelter, food
and other forms of material assistance to homeless families. But it
offers more. "They need cheerleaders who listen to them and give
them encouragement."

Mary Kay and her colleagues live this personal approach. They
refer to the people they serve not as "clients" or "cases" but as
"guests," according them dignity and respect. Church members
volunteer to house these "guests" in their church buildings, cook
and eat dinner with them and play games with their children or help
them with homework.

This personal approach includes another crucial element:
discipline.

With assistance comes personal responsibility. Toward that end,
guests are required to seek employment during their stay or receive
a seven-day notice to leave.

Guests at IHN also must turn over their government-issued debit
cards to staff. Although staff members don't hold veto power over
the cards, they talk with guests about their spending choices.
"Many guests have never had the concept of saving explained or
modeled for them," says Baker. "When we encourage them to save
money, they often leave thrilled to have enough saved up for their
first's month's rent."

IHN's networking approach with local churches is just one model
for meeting people's needs. The First Baptist Church of Leesburg,
Fla., has taken a different route by gradually building an entire
ministry village on its campus. Staff and volunteers operate
different ministries that serve homeless men and women, abandoned
children, pregnant women, sick people without medical insurance,
alcoholics and drug addicts, and many others.

What motivates FBC members? "They love Christ, and Christ loved
broken people, so they are moved by their love of Christ to serve
those he served," Pastor Emeritus Charles Roesel says.

This local, faith-centered approach doesn't just transform
lives. It also tackles human need more efficiently than bloated
government programs. For example, while FBC's community medical
care center spends about $30,000 a month to provide medical care to
the uninsured, it receives over $100,000 a month worth of donated
pharmaceuticals and services.

Similar savings are achieved in Grand Rapids. IHN receives
$12,000 annually from a government grant - less than 10 percent of
its budget.

But because churches and volunteers provide housing and food to
their approximately 200 guests each year, they provide services
that would cost taxpayers more than $92,500 annually in government
expenditures.

Such examples bear out the original idea behind the President's
Faith-Based and Community Initiative. At its best, the initiative
seeks to instill a personal, community-based approach to meeting
human needs by reducing regulations and fostering an environment in
which faith-inspired and grassroots efforts can flourish.

As government budgets spiral out of control, the need is more
urgent than ever for policies that create environments in which
families, local congregations and community-based organizations can
thrive. Their power to meet people's needs lies in a personal
approach that government simply cannot emulate.

Ryan Messmore is a
William E. Simon Fellow in Religion and a Free Society at The
Heritage Foundation.